Air BnB- Regulate it or not?

[LaosLover]

I'm in Asheville NC, the Chiang Mai of the South. Plenty of regulations on Air BnB here to keep the downtown feeling local, but of late, these has been loosening:

 

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2023/04/13/latest-deregulation-bill-would-throw-asheville-wide-open-to-airbnbs/70108180007/

 

Do you favor rent regulations, either at home or in Thailand?

 

Is AirBnB a factor where you live? How does it affect you?

 

Do you use Air BnB when you travel? Can you share any good ones?

[Captain Monday]

A great idea that does not work because guests will not follow a few simple rules (garbage, smoking, parking, noise, pool etiquette) Basically people who are on vacation behave differently than residents and refuse to be “told what to do”. There is also the economic fallout when thinly stretched housing stocks are reduced in certain areas further driving up living costs. 
 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

If people want to put their own free-standing house on Air BnB then they should do it.

 

If people offer their condominium unit, which is obviously in a condominium building, then I think they should be punished, maybe the door locked, something like that.

 

I live in a condominium, and I expect neighbors who live here long term. I don't want to feel like I am in a hotel.

 

And if I travel, then I obviously go to a hotel, with all the hotel facilities and services. That's the whole idea. Hotels are for (relative) short time visitors. 

 

The problem in Thailand is, as usual, that nobody enforces the laws. 

[Captain Monday]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If people want to put their own free-standing house on Air BnB then they should do it.

 

If people offer their condominium unit, which is obviously in a condominium building, then I think they should be punished, maybe the door locked, something like that.

 

I live in a condominium, and I expect neighbors who live here long term. I don't want to feel like I am in a hotel.

 

And if I travel, then I obviously go to a hotel, with all the hotel facilities and services. That's the whole idea. Hotels are for (relative) short time visitors. 

 

The problem in Thailand is, as usual, that nobody enforces the laws. 

In addition to the economic distortion when owners pull homes out of rental market free standing home BnBs cause disturbances to neighbors also. When  the guests who are supposed to be limited to 4-5 people or whatever actually show up with 15 with all the traffic and noise.
 

Also “house parties”,  at least one I read of turned deadly with a mass shooting in a tony suburb. 
 

 

 

[LaosLover]

Free enterprise is all well and good until it affects a critical mass of renters. Then those renters vote for rent regulation, as in Hawaii, Asheville, New York.

 

I'm back spending a lot of money to get my house ready for Air BnB rental. An agent will manage the place and take 25%. We prefer short term renters to a long term lease since we'd like to come back to the mountains for a few months each year during the Chiang Mai smoke season.

 

We have a very desirable house, but in a less desirable middle of nowhere location. We will likely only net out about 20% better than if we signed a longterm lease. But we like the flexibility to be able to come back.

 

Also, the middle of nowhere-factor means that there are not that many potential long-term tenants to pay our minimum rent-ask. It's a beautiful place to visit, but a hard place to live.

 

It's like any small biz; you put in some money and hope that (the right kind and number of) customers show up. We might do better than we think, we might do a bit worse.

 

It'll take me two years to break even after all the house upgrades. I just spent $2K on TV's for every room. Holiday renters in God's greatest nature paradise need a TV on every available blank spot of wall.